Minister for Women Pru Goward has announced the launch of the NSW Government’s It Stops Here Domestic and Family Violence Framework. The framework represents a key initiative geared toward tackling domestic violence in Australia, where on average one woman is killed by her partner or former partner every week.

The program will be supported by $9.8m in funding, and will begin with the task of driving down rates of domestic violence and better responding to victims when incidents occur.

Domestic violence is said to be the greatest cause of death and disability for women under the age of 40 in Australia, and it is estimated that domestic violence costs the NSW economy more than $4.5 billion every year.

“The NSW Government’s new approach will mean victims have a single contact point - a specialised domestic violence worker - who will organise everything a victim needs, and the $9.8 million will go straight into violence prevention and male behaviour change”, said Minister Goward.

Ms Goward also said the updated framework aimed to reduce red-tape and introduce a new centralised database to support the delivery of victim support services.

Two brand new launch sites are set to be established in Orange and Waverley, and are expected to be operational by mid-2014.

Published 17th February, 2014
in
Family & Community Services,
Police & Justice